Éponine Thénardier
Éponine Thénardier is a character in the novel Les Misérables by Victor Hugo. She is the eldest daughter and first-born child of Thénardier and Madame Thénardier. As a child, she is disrespectful to Cosette and is spoiled, but ends up a ragged waif when she grows up. She is in love with Marius Pontmercy. She dies on the barricades after being shot while taking a bullet meant for Marius. Novel When Éponine and her sister Azelma are children in Montfermeil, they are spoiled, wear pretty dresses, and have happy lives. They also mistreat Cosette, and at times ignore her. They first express jealousy towards Cosette when they see Jean Valjean give her a brand new expensive doll. Soon after Valjean takes Cosette away, the Thénardiers' inn goes bankrupt, and the family move out to Paris, where they become completely impoverished, living in an apartment at Gorbeau House. Éponine becomes ragged, haggard and prematurely aged due to living in poverty and has a hoarse voice due to drinking. Thénardier uses her and Azelma to help him racketeer. Éponine falls blindly in love with her neighbor Marius, who lives in the same apartment building. To impress him, she proves her literacy by reading aloud from a book and writing a sentence, "Les cognes sont la" ("The police are here." "Cognes" is argot slang for "police"). When Valjean (now Cosette's adoptive father) and Cosette later see the family on a charitable visit, Marius asks Éponine to find Cosette's address. Discovering that he is only in love with Cosette, she is unhappy with his request, but agrees to help him find her for him after making him promise to give her anything she wants as payment. Later that day, she and Azelma participate in Thénardier and the Patron-Minette's attempted robbery of Valjean by keeping watch for the police. Marius stops Thénardier and the gang from killing Valjean by throwing Éponine's literacy note through the wall. Thénardier reads it and thinks Éponine threw it inside as a warning. The Thénardiers and the gang try to escape, but are stopped and arrested by Javert. Éponine and Azelma are also arrested, but are later released after two weeks. Éponine does not see Marius for a total of six weeks. After her release, she finds Valjean and Cosette's house by chance while on assignment for Babet. With the assistance of Mabeuf, she finds Marius and, with some reluctance, tells him she found Cosette's address. Marius makes Éponine swear not to let her father know the address, and she promises. She then tells him that she wants her payment, and Marius puts a five-franc coin in her hand. She opens her fingers and lets it fall, and tells him it is not money she wants. After she shows Marius the house, he watches it for a few days. Marius and Cosette soon meet in the gardens of the house and profess their love to each other, and meet with each other there throughout the past few weeks. One night, during one of Marius' visits with Cosette, Éponine stops her father, Patron-Minette and Brujon from breaking into the house. The next day, Éponine disguises herself as a boy and anonymously throws a note to Valjean to move away. She also intercepts Cosette's letter to Marius so that it does not reach him. The next day, Marius finds Valjean and Cosette's house deserted. Éponine anonymously tells Marius to go to the barricades and help the Les Amis de l'ABC contend with the National Guards, hoping that he will die with her. Devastated, Marius goes. At the barricades, Éponine sees a soldier about to shoot Marius. Wanting to die before Marius, she steps between him and the soldier and takes the fatal shot herself. After this, she calls out for Marius and asks him to lie her on his knees, and he does so. She then confesses to Marius her role in sending him to the barricades, and why she took the shot for him. She also decides to give him Cosette's letter, concerned he would hold the letter against her in the afterlife. Her final request to Marius that after she dies, he kiss her forehead. She confesses her love for him with her last breath, and dies. Marius kisses her forehead, as he sympathizes with her for her hard life. Musical Éponine is one of the musical's most beloved characters. In this adaptation, she is made to have a more sympathetic and relatable presentation of her character and she is not as manipulative. In the novel, most of her beauty has been lost and she has a hoarse voice. In the musical, her beauty is kept and her voice is not rough, but she is still presented as ragged and poverty-stricken. She and Marius are also portrayed as friends. Her child self remains unchanged. Songs Act I * Castle on a Cloud (silent) * Look Down * The Robbery/Javert's Intervention * Éponine's Errand * Do You Hear the People Sing? (silent) * In My Life * A Heart Full of Love * The Attack on Rue Plumet * One Day More Act II * Building the Barricade (Upon These Stones) * On My Own * A Little Fall of Rain * Night of Anguish (silent) * Valjean's Death * Finale List of Portrayers Musical * Frances Ruffelle - Original London/Broadway cast * Lea Salonga - 1993: Broadway cast replacement, 1995-1996 London Cast and 10th Anniversary Concert * Celia Keenan-Bolger - 2006: Broadway revival * Lea Michele - 2008: Hollywood Bowl * Nancy Sullivan - 2008- 2010: West End Production * Samantha Barks - 2010: West End Production, 25th Anniversary Concert * Chasten Harmon-2011 - 25th Anniversary US Tour (Original) * Brianna Carlson-Goodman - 2012; 25th Anniversary US Tour (Current; original Eponine u/s) * Rosalind James - 2012: 25th Anniversary UK Tour * Danielle Hope - 2012: West End production Movies * Nayalya Angel Wallace - 2012 Movie (Young Eponine) * Samantha Barks - 2012 Movie Trivia *Éponine was one of the spirits (the other being Fantine) who greeted Valjean during his death in the musical. In the 2012 film, she is replaced by Bishop Myriel. External Links * Éponine's Wikipedia page Gallery Musical Eponine01.jpg|Samantha Barks in the West End Production of Les Mis celiaEponine.jpg|Celia Keenan-Bolger as Eponine CelineLesMis.jpg|Celine Purcell as Eponine in the Dutch Production of Les Mis LesMisDanielle.jpg|Danielle Hope in the West End Production Rosalind.jpg|Rosalind James in the UK Tour αρχείο λήψης (2).jpg|Lea Salonga in the 10th Anniversary Concert Film Eponine 1.jpg imagesCA0VUKGB.jpg letter Eponine.jpg eponine.jpeg Unknown.jpeg tumblr_mh4khqsdwd1ro6c6oo1_1280.png A little fall of rain.png imagesCAUE1MK2.jpg Category:Characters Category:Characters in the musical Category:Characters who passed away Category:Members of the Thenardier family